Skipping The Admiration Part
by CupCakeyyy
Summary: Falling in love is possible; even at a young age. Marlene McKinnon gets to experience it...


The second round of the finals of QLFC is all about phrases. Mine is 'those were the words he needed to hear'.

_Prompts:_

_3. __(quote) "A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment." ― Jane Austen, __Pride and Prejudice_

_9. __(word) examine_

_12. __(word) snow_

And now... ENJOY READING! :D

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><p><strong>Skipping The Admiration Part<strong>

"No."

"Why not?"

Mary rolled her eyes as Dorcas and Marlene continued to argue, just like the last thirty minutes of this fine Friday afternoon. Upon hearing Marlene refuse to even set a foot near the Quidditch pitch, Dorcas had made it her personal goal to convince said girl to go anyway. She planned on joining the team next year, so she couldn't for the life of her understand why Marlene downright refused to go with them.

"Because I see no reason and because it's cold!"

Mary turned around and gazed out of the girls' dormitory's window. The pane was frozen at the edges, letting little white ice crystals make their way along its smooth surface. The grounds of Hogwarts were covered in brilliant white snow, reflecting the rays of sunlight that did their best to melt it all away. _Not going to happen_, Mary thought with a grin. She loved snow and she loved winter. Hearing the cold wind blow by the window, the mere sound of it making her shiver, the clean smell of fresh air when she stood in the snow and enjoyed the warm sunlight… She loved everything about it.

"Of course, it's cold! It's winter!"

Mary snickered softly. She could literally hear Dorcas rolling her eyes at Marlene's exclamation.

"And you'll come too," Dorcas whirled around, focusing her determined stare at innocent Lily, who sat on top of her blanket on her bed, a book in her lap, looking like a deer caught in headlight.

"What? No way."

"Not you, too." Dorcas groaned and put her face in her hands. Grumbling something unintelligible, she glared at her two best friends through the slits between her fingers. Her eyes shot over to Mary, who smirked back.

*~*MKSB*~*

"I can't believe you're actually doing this!" Lily huffed as she tried to struggle free and somehow get a foot onto the ground. Dorcas and Mary had decided to just ignore their protests and had gone back to their magical way of _convincing_ as they called it. Being floated through the Common Room had been embarrassing enough, but not lifting the spell while on their way through the _whole castle_ was downright cruel.

"One has to make sacrifices in order to get to their goal," Dorcas smiled innocently, marching through the ankle-deep snow. "What needs to be done needs to be done."

"And by the way, what do you have against watching our house team's practice? Show some support here, will you?" Mary smirked and raised her wand a little bit as to avoid the upcoming collision between Marlene and a nearby bush.

"Yeah, when I'm on the team next year I want you all to support me and cheer me on when I'm leading the team to its next victory!" Dorcas punched her free fist into the air and cheered. "And I'll look absolutely gorgeous on a broom in the air with a Quaffle in my arms and you know it."

This time, it was Lily's turn to roll her eyes. Leave it to Dorcas to think of a Quidditch match to be some kind of beauty competition just to get even more invitations to Hogsmead than she already got. It didn't matter that she was only a second year student; older students – mainly third and fourth years – were asking her out anyway, clearly forgetting – or just ignoring – the fact that she wasn't allowed to visit Hogsmead just yet.

A distant shout pulled her out of her reverie. As she looked up, she saw they had arrived at the pitch. Seven figures were flying at sickening speed over the snow that covered the ground of the pitch, but Lily could just make out seven red dots zooming around, over and under each other, throwing and hitting balls like there was no tomorrow.

"Thank you," Marlene grumbled as Mary put her down on the ground.

"Come on," being tugged to the stands, Marlene had a chance to glance up just as a Bludger zoomed past her.

"Watch out," someone called out as he whizzed past her after the Bludger and hitting it with all his might with the thick club he was holding onto. "You okay, McKinnon?"

Sirius Black flew over to them, a slightly worried expression on his face. His longish hair was windswept, his cheeks pink from the cold and his nose was literally glowing. Marlene felt a weird dropping sensation as she looked into his concerned, light grey eyes that examined her carefully.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she mumbled, blushing under his intense gaze.

"You sure? You look quite shaken," Black frowned slightly and he directed his broom to fly nearer to the stands.

"Of course, she's shaken. Who wouldn't be if they had just narrowly avoided being hit by a mad Bludger?" Dorcas called out as she, Mary and a reluctant Lily made their way back down the stairs to their friend.

Black turned around to glare at Dorcas and retort with a cheeky remark as an amused shout of non-other than James Potter interrupted him. Lily groaned. "Oi, Siri!" He called out and flew over to them. Lily tried to hide behind Mary, who was starting to grin widely, knowing exactly what was about to happen. "What'cha doin'? Have you lost the Bludger or what? Oh, hello ladies." He sent a charming smile their way, making Dorcas and Mary blush crimson. "Evans," he gave her a nod and winked at her. "How's it going? Did you come to watch me play? That's really convenient, you know? Because, since you're here, I've wanted to ask you something for quite some time now."

Black turned around to focus all of his attention – grinning and winking – on poor Lily, who was bright red from head to toe. He punched his friend against his back, nearly knocking him off his broom.

"Well, well, Jamie, let's not over-excite Evans here. She's already jumping up and down with happiness," he cackled as Lily glared at him.

"Very funny," she hissed as James beamed at her.

"Potter, Black! Get your bums back up here!"

"Will do, Captain," Black yelled back, pushing a winking James Potter away from him and the stands. With a last grin, he turned around and made eye-contact with Marlene, who did her best to make her heartbeat calm down, but without having much success. "Hope you'll enjoy the practice, McKinnon," he said, winked at her and made his way back to the rest of his team, most of who had an annoyed expression on their faces.

Lily huffed and climbed up the stairs to find a seat at the very top of the wooden stage, closely followed by a hyper Dorcas and a giggling Mary.

Marlene's eyes followed the black-haired young wizard into the sky, wondering what it would be like to be up there with him, on the same broom, laughing about how Potter and Lily danced around each other…

*~*MKSB*~*

Marlene clutched her side with one hand as she wiped her tears away with the other. She and Sirius sat on the couch in front of their coffee table, laden with brochures, magazines and self-written lists and were laughing their heads off.

"Oh, I remember that," she gasped as she tried to get her breathing back under control. "The glare she shot him! Poor James. But what was he thinking wanting to ask her out just a day after his last brush-off?"

Sirius chuckled, shaking his head. "I have no idea." He remembered that moment as if it had been just yesterday. After their practice, he had taken his best friend aside, setting him straight in the – probably most – important topic at that time; asking out a girl you liked. He could remember his reaction all too well. Being put straight by his best friend – a friend just as flirty as he was with Lily – had been a big blow to his ego, although Sirius was pretty sure James hadn't cared one bit about what he had been telling him. He snickered. _Yes, those were the words he needed to hear_, he thought, thinking about his ten minutes long speech about the morals and social rules one had to stick to when asking a girl out. Had it helped? Not in the slightest.

"And now they're getting married," Marlene sighed and picked up a wedding magazine from the table in front of them. "I can't believe it." She looked at the smiling bride on the cover of the heavy magazine she had lent from Lily the other day. After Sirius had proposed to her, she had immediately wanted to start planning their wedding. Who knew how much time they had left, with the war and everything going on outside their little comfortable home?

"You know," she whispered, still looking at the magazine in her hand, "I think I knew it all along."

Sirius frowned, puzzled. "That Lily and James would get married? Sorry, but even though you're a woman, I somehow doubt that anyone could have guessed what those two would be up to at that point."

Marlene smiled softly and turned to her fiancée. "Not them; us." She put the magazine into her lap and took Sirius' hands in hers. Gently running her thumb over his palm, she looked him in the eye and smiled lovingly. "Back then, during that practice all those years ago. I think I knew deep down that you are something special; that somehow we'd end up together."

"Really?" He raised his brows as he gently squeezed her hands. He watched fascinated as an adorable blush crept up her cheeks, tainting them a beautiful pink colour. "How come?"

"A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment," she sighed and smiled absentmindedly. "At least I guess that had been the case with me."

"And with Lily as well," Sirius grinned as he leaned forward. "Though she had probably skipped the admiration part."

Marlene laughed as Sirius' lips met with hers.

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><p>Please leave a comment and tell me what you think! I just love reading and answering your comments :D<p>

**Word count: 1673**

Until next time...

See ya!


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